Reasons for prematurity

[Anna_due Dec]

Who knows the reasons for their babies prematurities and does it help knowing or does it just give you something more to stress about?
Both my prems were for no obvious reason. I assume it was incompetent cervix because both times they were born within 24 hours of hubby and i "getting busy". They told me after prem no 1 that it wouldn't be the cause but after it happened with prem no 2, hubby and i are not taking the risk again. I guess in a normal pregnancy sex doesn't cause pre term labour so even if it was the trigger it wasn't the reason. I had no other symptoms- blood pressure was low which is normal for me, it was totally unexpected. Anyway i'm just rambling on now.. I just wondered whether the not knowing is a blessing or a curse

 

[AP]

In my opinion, its always been a sheer curse. Once I had Alex I was forever worrying, I had always had planned for a sibling for her and after what happened I felt like it wasnt worth risking it again.

As she grew up I began to feel more confident.

Until now.

I'm expecting again and...well lets just say I am actually living a nightmare. Every day I expect the worst. Its the unknown - if I knew why Alex was early I would know what steps to take, but now im just not risking ANYTHING, im walking on eggshells

 

[kayshablake]

i had a premmie due to sever iugr at 31 weeks 2 days i was monitored every day from being around 25 weeks :s it was a nightmare but if i diddnt do this we wouldnt have nown which day she deterioted in order for them to save her life
so yes it was hell but its all worth it up to now and now were waiting for her to come home shes been in nicu for 2 weeks up to now and i no theres many more weeks upcoming xxx

 

[Agiboma]

my reason is incompetent cervix and preeclamsia

 

[katy1310]

My reason was severe pre-eclampsia - I was one hour from organ failure and I'm really scared to ever get pregnant again even though we always wanted more than one baby. I'd love Sophie to have a little brother or sister one day but I don't know if we'd ever dare risk it I don't want her to be my only baby though!

 

[25weeker]

I either have an IC or I had some sort of inflammation which caused me to dilate.

I guess the only way to know for definite if it is an IC would be to get pregnant again. Not sure I want to risk another pregnancy and possibly lose another child as it's hard enough having one little angel. A tough decision I will have to make towards the end of next year!

 

[maisiemoo]

My baby was born with TOF/OA (Tracheo-Oesophageal Fistula (TOF) and Oesophageal Atresia (OA) ), which is a congenital condition of the oesophagus and trachea - essentially, her oesophagus didn't join up to her stomach, instead the pipe was connected from the windpipe to the tummy. This may have resulted in a build up of amniotic fluid, although i didn't measure excessively at the time of PROM. In otherwords no one really knows , but it may have something to do with her condition.

 

[happyface82]

I have no idea though she wasn't that early. Born at exactly 36 weeks. I had IUGR and was being constantly monitored and was going to have a c-section at 37 weeks. She had other plans though and my waters broke at 4am the day she was turning 36 weeks!

 

[bathbabe]

my baby was born at 36.3 so only just prem! But it was because i had a water infection that wasnt picked up on.. X

 

[mumof2kids]

With my first baby i had severe preeclampsia which was found in my routine appt i got enough time to get my steriods and delivered. Found out afterwards placenta stopped functioning about 2 weeks before.

Second baby at 21weeks found out about severe IUGR and later that I had absent end diastolic flow which became reversed flow at 25+6 weeks and had classical c-sec at 26+2.

It's good to keep getting monitored and also using your instincts... as mum you know when something is not quite right. I had high bp in both pregnancies.

 

[poppykat]

Chloe was born at 34+6 weeks due to fetal distress. Was being monitored due to reduced movement and they picked up that her heart rate was very low. She was born by crash section under an hour after they first put me on the monitor

I thought the reason for her going into distress was because I had uncontrolled obstetric cholestasis, however I was told after she had a very long cord which was wrapped ++ around her body and she was probably being starved of oxygen. Right place at the right time for me thank goodness otherwise the outcome could have been a lot worse

 

[kimmyttcno3]

Hi, both my boy's were born at 33 weeks 3 days. Corey was due to placenta abruption and with Harvey my waters started leaking so i went to the hospital but they said I wasn't in labour and could go on for another couple of weeks. They kept me in overnight to monitor me as a precaution which was lucky as I started getting strong contractions at 4.30ish and had him at 6.

 

[Marleysgirl]

Andrew had to be born at 29+1 when the bloodflow failed to the placenta. They have no idea what caused my "uterine arterial notching", and it's not really preventable. I know that when we decide to go for no.2, I will have very regular scans to detect and monitor any recurrence.

 

[embojet]

Molly was early due to preeclampsia. I think I would hate not knowing why.

 

[keldac]

My 2 prem births were both due to different reasons.

Shauna had sever iugr and failed blood flow through placenta and had emergency section at 29+3. Sadly she developed NEC and never came home

Mikayla was born at 33weeks by emergency section 9 mins after going to hospital with reduced movements! I had a concealed abruption. Thankfully Mikayla survived

 

[divadexie]

Nope it doesn't make it better! Because I know there is nothing that can be done!

It was severe pre eclampsia and my kidneys were failing!

My son was 4 weeks early due to late on pre eclampsia and then I had a fit.
Anna was 15weeks early and this time it was much worse.


We wanted to have another but I am not a gambling person so we wont be. It will take me a long time to get use to that.

 

[Elliesmummy]

We don't have a reason for Ellie being born so early, we were told it was just one of those things. In some ways i wanted something to blame so that it could be fixed or at least look out for it this time but i am also grateful that there is nothing wrong with me that could of cause it. It a difficult one really x

 

[midori1999]

My twins were born early due to onset of infection after my waters had ruptured nine weeks before.

Although I know I went into labour due to the infection and I got the infection due to PROM, I don't know why I PROM'd and that terrifies me really. I am pregnant again and extremely high risk as I had bi-lateral pulmonary emboli when I was pregnant with my girls, plus there is a risk I will have PROM again. Hopefully this baby will be OK, I am not sure I could put my other children through another pregancy if this one doesn't go well.

 

[Anna_due Dec]

Its a big thing to make a decision to get pregnant again after you've watched your baby suffering..or lost one for that matter. 2 of my babies were born prem but are completely healthy now, in fact you'd never know they were early. I found it hard to make the decision to have this last baby but i think if i asked my perfectly healthy, happy boys if they think i should have done things differently, i'm sure they'd assure me they are glad they got a chance to be born. However, if the next baby isn't so lucky, maybe he won't agree. Its such a bloody gamble. My positive outcomes influenced me to have another but i don't know how brave i'd have been if one of my boys had a crap quality of life. I don't think there is a right or wrong in this. You feel plenty guilty enough without others beating you up for it... I notice a few people have brought this up now..it's obviously something a lot of us think about.

 

[NZBeth]

I had my baby boy early due to placenta previa. At 24w+1d I was hospitalised after my 2nd bleed (the 1st was at 20w and they said there was nothing they could do so sent me home) and was given steroids at 27w and 32w+5d after further bleeds. At 33w+2d my placenta haemorrhaged and I lost 2 litres of blood in the 1hr 10mins it took for them to get me to theatre and get him out. So glad and lucky I was already in hospital when it happened or it may have been a different outcome as I live rurally and it would have very likely taken longer than that for an ambulance to even get to me and get me to hospital.